Kimchi anyone?

[Frozenteatowel]

Does anyone like it and if so do you make it or buy it or eat it out? I’ve always wanted to try it as I love things like sauerkraut so I bought a jar of it in Sainsburys. I really like it but at £2.50 for a small jar I wondered whether there’s cheaper around that’s still nice or if anyone has a simple recipe. There’s so many recipes online I don’t know which to try.

I buy it from an Asian supermarket which is certainly cheaper. I always forget how hot it is before wolfing loads down. Perfect for the cold weather.

I grew up eating kimchi before it was a thing and my children have been brainwashed into loving it. I would never make my own - go to H Mart’s website - they deliver throughout the UK. Warning: kimchi in the fridge will stink up the entire house relative to the size of the container (bigger container, more stink!). Koreans usually have a separate kimchi refrigerator because of this.

Oh thank you both. I don’t like the sound of it making the flat stink 😝. Will go check out the H Mart site and locate the nearest Asian supermarket. The one I got from Sainsburys certainly isn’t stinky but also suspect it’s not overly authentic either but I’m still enjoying it a lot.

I’ve just been on H mart. Which do you recommend Mominatrix

I love it and I make my own as it can be quite expensive to buy if you like eating it a lot! I've tried lots of different online recipes - they aren't that complicated but you do need to go to the Asian supermarket to get the gochugarang flakes and paste.

Yuk, it is like a fermented compost heap with hot spice. In my defence I had the real deal stuff (along with aged eggs) on a trip to South Korea over 20 years ago when I had just found out I was pregnant. Vom.

1Wanda1 would you be able to share your recipe? I could imagine it being quite addictive so it would be great to know what’s involved in making a good batch. I have found my nearest Asian supermarket and it’s not too far to get to 👍🏻.

TheNavigator Amazing description there 🙈😀. I expect the jar I’ve just finished isn’t much like the real deal. I hope I don’t hate th real deal as much as you did. Though being newly pregnant certainly won’t have helped matters.

I love kimchi and just buy it from Asian supermarkets usually (I'm in london).
I had such a craving the other day I had to go to whole foods and buy a tiny bar for a fiver. I live in S Korea for 3 years but have never made it. Maybe I should try...?

TheNavigator

I also came across it in South Korea and had to run out of the upmarket department store food hall, as the smell alone totally turned my stomach!

I don’t know. I eat it but then smell horrible.

I make my own (I prefer radish to napa cabbage but make lots of different varieties!) it's far better to make your own, buy some decent kimchi containers though with filters so your whole fridge doesn't stink! or buy a seperate fridge for kimchi like I have

Wow Preep a separate kimchi fridge. That is dedication to the cause. I would like to try making it because I’ve finished the jar in two small helpings.

Definelty try it just choose any recipe online and tweak to your preference, make sure after making you leave on thr counter for two days before putting it into the fridge, prod it with a chopstick and if the liquid bubbles when you press thr napa cabbage then it's good to go in the fridge and the day before you make salt your napa cabbage or brine it in water and salt over night!

I am also a fan, but tend to eat it at a local(ish) Korean restaurant

We adore kimchi here. My favourite ever breakfast is a fried egg on avocado toast with Parmesan grated over and a pile of kimchi on the side.

I like the traditional cabbage and spring onion one. It's not hard to make but much easier to buy from H-mart. I keep it in an airtight clip top container in the fridge or everything ends up tasting like kimchi...

Honestly, it's easy to make. Waitrose sell kimchi paste. Salt and rinse chopped Chinese leaf and mooli (giant radish), add spring onion and squashed garlic maybe some carrot and ginger, mix in paste, push it into a clean preserving jar, so the liquid covers the veg, lid on, watch the bubbles form over a few days. Let any pressure out occasionally, then after a while transfer to the fridge. No cooking required!

Right I’m going to try making some but after Christmas as I’m away from next week and don’t want to come back to a stinky flat. Will stick it in a Kilmer jar and hope that keeps the rest of the fridge and flat kimchi free. And if I make it myself I can adjust the heat to taste too which is good.

GrannyHaddock thank you that sounds very do-able indeed. Do you sterilise the jar or just use w clean one?

I bought some about a week ago and it’s in the fridge. I’m too scared to try it and eyeball it when I go to get the milk 😒.

Is it nice? I love pickle but there’s something about it that worries me...

Give the jar a decent wash out, if you like making it after this I'd invest in a kimchi container online, I find to fit in glass jars you have to cut it up and it never seems as nice as quartered heads of napa cabbage.
If your making it though make the sauce too, supermarket ones are pretty rubbish.
www.koreanbapsang.com/baechu-kimchi-napa-cabbage-kimchi/ or is a pretty good starter for the base

Kimchi is just pickled vegetables. Lots of cultures make them. I make the Indian versions at home — salted carrots that have been left overnight at least, vinegar, salt, leek / spring onion, garlic, fresh chilli, and then pack the whole thing in more lemon juice and it’s ready to eat after a month or so (you need to keep stirring once a week).

Just wash the jar and put it into the oven on 100°C or so for a while. Use a Kilner jar or similar. If you can get one with a fermentation lock, so much the better. You will be surprised how much the veg shrivel and shrink after salting, so you will probably only need one jar.

I use an ikea jam jars.

Cherries is right, it's just pickled veg, there are lots of ways of doing it and it's not too fussy about the details. I've never waited a month to eat it before, though! I think the Koreans traditionally made kimchi in the autumn, buried the containers and it lasted through till Spring.